Engagment
by freak-4-God
Summary: Zuko comes to talk to Katara, but many things interupt. His temper gets the better of him too. What a wonderful engagment story.


"Sifu Katara," her water bender pupil bowed before her. "The Fire Lord is outside, requesting entrance."

"Thank you, Yulsa. Show him in." Katara stood as Fire Lord Zuko entered the icehouse she had built for her water bending school.

"Master Katara," Zuko addressed her with a polite bow.

"Fire Lord Zuko," Katara returned the greeting with a deeper bow.

"I came here to….May I speak freely?"

"You may." Katara wasn't quite sure what he was getting at. When he had traveled with the Gang to teach Aang fire bending he had had no problem speaking he mind. Why was he hesitating now? Could it be that—?

"Well, I came here to ask you if—" Zuko was cut off by a screaming wail.

"Oh! Kenai!" Katara jumped as the baby cried, and rushed to her aid. Caressing the little bundle of infant and trying to rock her back to sleep, Katara turned to face the Fire Lord again.

The look on his face was a mixture of sadness and confusion.

"I, err, I didn't know that you had a child," the Fire Lord shifted uncomfortably. "When did you marry?"

"Marry? No, I didn't marry anybody!" Katara gently bounced the baby trying to soothe her.

"Then…..you had a baby," Zuko concluded.

Katara frowned. Why was he going on about this? "No, I adopted her. She's an Earth Kingdom child. I adopted her about six months ago. During an after-war raid, her parents were killed."

"Oh." There was relief in the Fire Lord's face. "So, you're not married then?"

Katara blinked and stood still. "No."

"Then I was wondering—" Zuko again was interrupted by the screams of the unhappy child. Katara murmured quietly to the infant as Zuko's eye twitched.

"Sifu Katara!" Yulsa burst in again, colliding with the Fire Lord. Murmuring hurried apologizes for her clumsiness; the young water bender addressed her master: "Sokka needs your healing skills! One of his trainees was playing with his club and smashed his leg! The snow is red and the ice is slick!"

"Get Tora to do it. His healing skills are just as good as mine," Katara yelled over the baby's wails. "I've got my hands full!"

"But Tora's the one unconscious and bleeding!" Yulsa protested.

"I knew that boy shouldn't have joined Sokka's ranks! He knows nothing of weapons and should stick to water bending! Here take Kenai!" Katara thrust the screaming infant into the Fire Lord's arms and rushed out, leaving Zuko alone as the baby screamed louder.

~*~

Katara returned to find Kenai still wailing and a frustrated Fire Lord.

"I can't get her to stop!" Zuko gritted his teeth as the Master Water bender laughed at him. "Take her back! Maybe you can shut her up!" And he returned the infant to Katara's arms. Kenai instantly sobered and Katara laughed harder as she put the babe back in her cradle.

"It's not funny!" Zuko yelled. "I've been trying to talk to you and I keep getting interrupted!"

Katara's eyebrows snapped into a glare. "This is the Southern Water tribe! Not everything is centered on you! We're not here to come to your every beck and call, to serve and please your every whimsy!"

"It's still impolite to rush out on a person!"

"It was an emergency! The boy smashed his shin and broke the artery!"

"Maybe you shouldn't be teaching him how to fight!"

"I'm not teaching him anything other than water bending! Sokka's in charge of the militia!"

"Maybe Sokka should be a better teacher!"

"What?!?!"

"Do I need to repeat myself or are you just saying that for dramatic purposes?" Zuko rolled his eyes.

"You infuriating, arrogant, pompous, long-girly-haired—"

"Hey!"

"You heard me!" Katara screeched. "Stop criticizing our life style and go back to the Fire Nation!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!" Katara pivoted on her heel, not bothering to watch him leave, listening to his receding footfalls.

"I only wanted to talk to you!" The clatter and then skidding of smooth stone on ice followed Zuko's statement.

"Well, I—" Katara paused as she watched the object the enraged Fire Lord had thrown slide to a stop. The bluish circular stone spun slowly, the black ribbon attached splayed outward, spiraling before ceasing to move.

In two quick steps Katara closed the distance between her and the thrown object. Stooping, Katara picked it up.

"Ouch!" Katara nearly dropped it as the hot stone seared her hand. It had collected its heat from the Fire Lord's angered hand. Instead she caught it by its ribbon and studied the carved stone. Carved into its surface, the stone presented a picture. It was Yin and Yang, but in Fire and Water. The two holes that pierced Yin and Yang's opposing sides had been made into the sun and the moon. Only the sun was centered in the Water and the moon in Fire.

There was only one explanation of what the object could be: an engagement necklace signifying the union of Water and Fire.

The necklace dangling in front of her face laughed at her as the angry words that she had shouted at Zuko echoed in her head. And as memory recalled the few stolen kisses Zuko and Katara had shared when they were younger and saving their world.

"Zuko!" Katara yelled as she raced out the ice doorway.

~*~

"So, Fire Lord Zuko, how did it go?" Iroh addressed his nephew pleasantly. "Do we have a new member of our ship to sail home with?"

Zuko stormed past his uncle as he headed back to the ship. "No!" he growled. "I didn't even get to talk to her!"

Iroh had to quicken his pace to keep up with the young Fire Lord's angered walking (more like stomping). "What happened?"

"I kept getting interrupted," Zuko vented. "First by a screaming child, then by one of her pupils carrying a message that one of her healers had hurt himself, and then she rushed out on me! Leaving me alone with a howling infant!"

Iroh patted sympathetically, "Katara's a busy girl. She and her brother are running the whole village. She's the best healer they have and the only Master Water bender. And with so many eager pupils, I'm surprised that you got to see her at all."

Zuko sighed. "The worst part is that when she returned, I yelled at her."

"That's a shame," the old man tutted. "Here, give me the engagement necklace and we'll try again another time."

Zuko stopped with a grimace. Avoiding his uncle's eyes and trying to ignore the outstretched hand, he mumbled, "I don't have it. In my anger, I threw it."

"What?" Iroh's eyebrows rose. "But it took you weeks to carve it on that tiny stone! Not to mention finding the traditional stone to carve it on! And the planning of what to carve—"

"I know!" Zuko yelled, exasperated. "I screwed up! I know, Uncle! Now she hates me, and she told me to go back to the Fire Nation and that's where I'm going!"

With that, Zuko continued his storming toward the ship. Iroh shook his head, remembering how much his nephew had looked forward to asking the water bender to become his wife.

Well, he thought with a sigh, we can always try again later. Or hope that she finds the necklace and realizes its meaning!

~*~

"Zuko, wait!" Hearing his name being called, the Fire Lord about-faced to see Katara rushing after him.

"I didn't mean it!" she yelled before slipping on a patch of ice in her hurry. The Water bending Master shot a glare at the ice that melted it and formed it into snow.

Zuko raised his eyebrows, but didn't dare laugh. Composing himself, he asked: "Didn't mean what?"

"I didn't want you to leave," she replied as she reached him, panting.

"Really," Zuko didn't meet her ocean-blue eyes, "what made you change your mind?"

"I found this on the floor," Katara held up his engagement necklace and he felt his cheeks burn.

"What about it?" He still didn't look at her.

"You mean that you didn't drop it?"

"I could have…" the Fire Lord didn't give a straight answer, afraid of what her response might be.

"Well, whoever dropped it was a fire bender and they were in love with someone from this Water Tribe, perhaps a water bender." Katara also took the long way around the subject.

"Oh? What makes you think that?" The Fire Lord chanced a glance at the water bender.

"I don't know what this would mean to the Fire Nation," Katara flourished the necklace, "but in the Water Tribes, it's an engagement necklace."

"And how do you know it belongs to a fire bender?" Zuko inquired hesitantly.

"The symbol engraved is Yin and Yang, but in Water and Fire." Katara shrugged with a casual roll of her eyes. "And there are plenty of fire benders around the South Pole currently, so I've deduced that it is yours, your uncle's, or one of your many crew members."

"It's not mine!" Iroh piped up.

"Thanks, Uncle!" Zuko growled through his clenched teeth, with a sidelong glance at the old man.

"Any time!" he remarked pleasantly.

"Well that narrows it down," Katara commented. "Could I have your permission to search you ship's members fro this necklace's owner. It is something of importance, and I'd like to return it as quickly as possible."

Zuko braced himself and met Katara's eyes. In them he saw complete innocence on the surface, but deeper within there sparked hope.

With a deep bracing breath, the Fire Lord told her: "It's mine."

Katara admired the handiwork of his necklace. "So your journey here wasn't to make sure we were safe from after-war raids. It was to find yourself a wife."

"It was both," Zuko could return her gaze now.

"Uh-huh. And you came to me to ask permission to marry one of the girls in the Southern Tribe?"

"No!" Zuko said hastily, then paused: "Actually, yes!"

"Well, which is it?" Katara returned. "No or yes?"

"Yes!" Zuko nodded.

"And who were you planning on asking to be your wife?" Katara brought up the subject a little hesitantly.

"You." Zuko said solemnly and truthfully. "But you turned me away when I got angry and I threw the necklace in frustration." Zuko showed Katara his palm, on it, the hot stone had burnt the necklace's design in the skin that had started to blister.

Calling forth the snow and melting it Katara Laid her glowing hand on Zuko's outstretched one. The cool water flowed over the burning bubbles of skin, soothing them as they healed.

Ocean blue met fiery gold. "Fire Lord Zuko of the Fire Nation, I accept your proposal of marriage."

Zuko grinned as he tugged Katara into his arms and kissed her.

~*~

Katara grinned as she pulled away. Reaching up she began to take off her mother's necklace.

"Wait," Zuko placed a hand on the necklace's pendant. "That's your mother's necklace. Are you sure you want to exchange it for mine? You don't need to wear it."

"But I want to wear it!" Katara shot back. "Besides, my mother got it from her mother and I'm going to give it to our daughter."

"Katara tucked the old necklace safely in her pocket and Zuko replaced it with his. The blue stone landed gently on her throat. Katara smiled, it was still warm from her fiancé's hand.

~*~

Iroh smiled to himself. He'll leave the two alone. The former general whistled to himself an old song about two lovers and a secret tunnel as he went in search of some Arctic tea, contemplating the number of grandbabies he would have soon.


End file.
